Aldeia da Roupa Branca (Village of the White Clothes)

Beatriz Costa

Ah! River Do not complain,
Ah! Soap does not kill,
Ah! It even washes the fish,
Ah! It gives them their silver colors.
Clothes in the hill drying
Observe it well, so white and light
Gives ideas to those who look
Observe it well, its like falling snow

Cold water, of the little river,
Cold water heated by the sun,
Old village, bring the idea,
White clothes that we hanged.
Three Corsets, one apron,
Seven pillowcases, a sheet,
Three engagement shirts,
That the customer added to the list. (2x)

Ah! River Do not complain,
Ah! Soap does not kill,
Ah! It even washes the fish,
Ah! It gives them their silver colors.
Look at this wedding set
Observe well, the blue of hope
The mount looks like a pigeon house
Observe well how white are the doves

Cold water, of the river,
Cold water heated by the sun,
Old village, bring the idea,
White clothes that we hanged.
Three Corsets, one apron,
Seven pillowcases, a sheet,
Three engagement shirts,
That the customer added to the list. (2x)

Ah! River Do not complain,
Ah! Soap does not kill,
Ah! It even washes the fish,
Ah! It gives them their silver colors.
A sheet of unbleached cloth,
Observe well how cleaned it is,
We slept on it, me and you,
Observe well, it is linen color.

Cold water,  of the river,
Cold water heated by the sun,
Old village, bring the idea,
White clothes that we hanged.
Three Corsets, one apron,
Seven pillowcases, a sheet,
Three engagement shirts,

That the customer added to the list. (2x)


Original Source: https://goo.gl/uS3DYH
Chosen by: Luisa.
Translated by: Luisa.
Revised by: Badriah.

“Aldeia da Roupa Branca” is a 1938 Portuguese film, seen by every grandmother in Portugal and held as a national cinema classic. This tale has been made timeless, not only by starring an actress who is considered to be the most important Portuguese actress: Beatriz Costa but also by the iconic song she sings in the most recognizable scene of this moving picture, where she is doing laundry in the river while singing this catching tune.
The most recent generations of the Portuguese population may not recognize the film or the song. In my opinion, a huge role to play in Portuguese pop culture and cinematic past. It depicts the Portuguese 30’s society very faithfully and it is about ordinary people doing ordinary activities in an ordinary scenario while still showing the richness of what it is to be part of the extraordinary Portugal. Always with a bit of a love story mixed into it, and how beautiful Portuguese love stories can be in a place like this one.
I found out that translating this song is a bit of a challenge mainly because of the Portuguese jargon, considering that those lyrics are “very Portuguese”, some words appear to lose it’s identity when translated.